LuAnne Sorrell, reporter
Oscar Goodman Makes Stunning Suggestion

(Oct. 22) -- A stunning suggestion from the always-surprising Mayor of Las Vegas was made Wednesday. Oscar Goodman says the city should at least consider legalizing prostitution within city limits. Mayor Goodman is not advocating legalizing prostitution, he says it would increase tourism and bring in a lot of money for the city. His comments came during an interview on talk radio this Wednesday morning.

Prostitution has been illegal in Clark County since 1971, when lawmakers passed a state statute prohibiting prostitution within county limits. Clark County is the only county in Nevada that this statute is applicable. Washoe County does not allow prostitution. But that is based on a county decision, not a state one.

Mayor Goodman says he wants to throw the subject of legalizing prostitution out there and see how the public feels about having a red light district downtown. "

I'm throwing the idea out. I want to hear what the people have to say. I'm not advocating anything at this point. 15 out of the 17 counties in Nevada apparently don't think it's immoral. It's not illegal, and it's something that the public should really consider because there's a tremendous amount of money that could be raised as a good source of tax revenue here," stated Mayor Goodman.

Brothels are scattered around the state. The closest ones to Las Vegas are Sherrie's Ranch and the Chicken Ranch located in Pahrump, about an hour away.

It's no secret that prostitution already exists here in the city -- illegally. And some say since it's already happening, the city should be making a profit from it.

Las Vegas seems to have come full circle now. For years Las Vegas tried to remake its image as a family friendly tourist destination. Recently I've read and heard stories about the booming strip club and nightlife scene there. And even Las Vegas' ads promoting the city have moved more towards adult entertainment.

I almost didn't believe this post until I actually found the article online.

http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1493531&nav=168XIgTt

Where is Drewwho when you need him?

Interesting! This is a courageous mayor and he's shown it before (but where was he on the new city lap dance rules?).

I am under the impression that the monied and powerful in Las Vegas have been working behind the scenes to lobby the end of legalized prostitution in the rest of the state. They think the image of legal prostitution in Nevada (which so many around the country erroneously believe applies to Las Vegas) is an obstacle to further developing the convention and family business...though as Xen points out, they are starting to understand that marketing Vegas as a family destination was not the best idea. Goodman takes care of the hotel/casino interests too, but he seems to be a genuinely independent operator.

If anyone has been to Vegas in the last few months, you'll have noticed a backing away from the "Bring the whole family approach" It's now "What goes on here, stays here" approach.

The whole reason the city banned lap-dancing was on the behest of the major hotel and casino's who .. you guessed it.. are opening their own adult themed night clubs. They are replete with dancers, and strippers both men and women , and have all the elements of a strip-club except the lap-dancing. So if you want to compete with the established strip clubs, level the playing field and take away their advantage.

The fact that Las Vegas knows very well that "sex sells" It sells even better if we can control it.
So the first thing you'll see is the submission, wherever possible, of any imaginable competition. As strip clubs, with explicit lap dancing, is really the closest thing, they were the first to be challenged and regulated. When you finally have the sex industry under your proverbial thumb, then you can introduce the things like prostitution.

When all the suits in Vegas finally got the majority of the mob out of the gaming industry in Vegas, they really saw what a cash cow it is. Anybody who runs a well-run strip club can tell you the same thing. So its only a nutural turn of events. The suits take over the gaming, then comes sex and prostitution.

Now when they find a way to legalize weed and.....

OG

If it's legalized, it better be cheap. Not the ridiculous prices of Mustang Ranch etc.

Isn't Canada moving towards decriminalisation of weed? Not that I think weed is good for you...